Free editorial calendar templates for your blog

Free editorial calendar templates for your blog

Every month, Google receives over one million searches asking the question, “What is a blog?” Your small business blog is one of the most important mediums for marketing your business. I want to help you reap the benefits of blogging, so I am sharing important uses for your business blog strategy. I’m also including a free editorial calendar template to help you ‘post with a purpose.’

A recent article from Hubspot explains how blogs have become the new ad unit, and are one of the most valuable ways to advertise your business. (Read 13 of the most important benefits of a blog- http://blog.hubspot.com/why-blog-post-is-the-new-ad-unit.) Hubspot shows us what a valuable asset your blog can be, so let’s look at how to use your blog to its full advantage.

Begin by using an editorial calendar.

Editorial calendar templates are a strategic way to tie your content together, and integrate your marketing and business goals with your blog strategy. Editorial calendar templates give you a ‘big picture’ perspective of your month, or quarter, or year. They are a tactical tool to help you integrate your content with important business developments like upcoming events, product launches, expert interviews, company news and much more. They allow for multiple users, help foster collaboration with your team, provide a tracking mechanism, and serve as a workroom for story-building. (For more on aligning your business goals with your blog strategy read Strategic Communication Planning with a Corporate Editorial Calendar-http://www.iabc.com/cwb/archive/2012/0312/McGrath.htm).

Get started with myMarketing Cafe’s editorial calendar templates.

I use a simple excel spreadsheet to manage my blog editorial calendar. I’m including a free template with this blog, and it contains some or my real world examples. ) There are several more complex calendar platforms available, but I’m partial to a simple, easy-to-use system. To help me develop content, I rely on various sources: questions I receive from the myMarketing Cafe community, internet searches for trending topics, latest big news, and upcoming events. And, as I mentioned earlier, I also use our blog to support business goals and key developments.

Enhance your blog posts with strategic keyword integration.

Once you develop your content supported by inbound and outbound links, it’s important to integrate keywords into your blog. I use the Google Key Word Tool, (http://www.googlekeywordtool.com) to help me identify the most searched keywords associated with the topic I am covering. For example, when I searched for keywords relating to a blog editorial calendar, I found the phrase “What is a blog?” This phrase had low competition and over 124 million global searches per month. Score! Using the keyword tool helps you strengthen your blog with content people need and want. (Learn more about the using long tail keywords here-http://www.keywordtooldominator.com/k/long-tail-keyword-tools/.)

Research strategies to help you always write the perfect blog post.

You know that content is key and your editorial calendar will help you develop relevant and valuable content. At the cafe, our blog strategy calls for us to include links, photos, videos, slideshows, and templates whenever possible. Rich and robust content is more shareable and more valuable to your followers. (For help, read Gini Dietrich’s recent post on Spin Sucks, featuring 9 tips to write a great blog post-http://spinsucks.com/social-media/nine-tips-to-write-a-great-blog-post/.)

Later this month, I will share about opt-in video strategies, and a dirty little secret to help you grow your business. Don’t miss out. Visit www.mymarketingcafe.com to join our growing community of small business owners.

This blog first published on Cup of Jo at www.mymarketingcafe.com 5/13/13.

PROJECT EVE MEDIA

Project Eve Media is social media management company with a concentration on lead generation and sales. We position our clients for success through social media management services, social media advertising services, website design, and content marketing.